I strongly recommend that you read
Eugene Robinson's column in this morning's Washington Post. The subject is the "proud and accomplished Latina," Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and the Republicans' wild accusations of "racism" on her part. Here's Robinson:
Gingrich's outburst was in reaction to a widely publicized, out-of-context quote from a 2001 speech in which Sotomayor mused about how her identity might or might not affect her decisions as a federal judge. Far from being some kind of "racist" screed, the speech was actually a meditation on Sotomayor's personal experience of a universal truth: Who we are inevitably influences what we do.
Each of us carries through life a unique set of experiences. Sotomayor's happen to be the experiences of a brilliant, high-powered Latina -- a Nuyorican who was raised in the projects of the Bronx, graduated summa cum laude from Princeton, edited the Yale Law Journal, worked as a Manhattan prosecutor and a corporate lawyer, and served for 17 years as a federal trial and appellate judge.
Given that kind of sterling résumé -- and given that she has, according to presidential adviser David Axelrod, more experience on the federal bench than any Supreme Court nominee in at least 100 years -- it's understandable that Republican critics would have to grasp at straws.
My hope is that Republicans continue to "grasp at straws," and even better to attack this superbly qualified, impressive Hispanic woman judge. Do that harshly, as Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh (and Tom Tancredo) have been doing, and they risk consigning themselves to also-ran status for generations to come. Whatever they do, Sotomayor will be easily confirmed, so it's really just a political choice for Republicans to make. Here's hoping they make the wrong one.
